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Post by Spy Shot 6/Cameron Otto on Feb 13, 2012 20:21:36 GMT -5
Month 6, Week 4, Day 4. Starting at a Detroit Elementary school. Open.
Class is out for the day at Benjamin Franklin Pierce Elementary School, but the playground is still alive with the frantic activities of children waiting for their guardians to pick them up. But there's a point of stillness in the sea of activity. A small boy of about nine perches at the highest point of the playground, legs pulled up to his chest and arms curled around them, simply... watching, apart and aloof.
He watches his schoolmates at play, the teachers who supervise them, the cars coming and going, bringing parents and taking away children, the clouds, the insects, the birds, the patterns in the sand... But mostly he's watching for a particular car and a particular guardian, to come and rescue him from the growing tedium that is human elementary school.
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Feb 19, 2012 10:09:13 GMT -5
There is a particular guardian looking for a particular child, as well; Hollister slows the minivan well below the posted speed limit even before he pulls into the long, curving school drive. He doesn't know why he happens to have a minivan; he's been teased often enough by other officers – genuinely human officers, or possibly Transformers who don't remember who they are – that it isn't a very manly car. It suits his purposes, so he tends to shrug it off.
He grins and waves out the window at Cameron once he spies the boy atop the equipment. He still frets when he sees that sort of thing even though he knows the odds of Cameron falling are relatively slim. Hollister's just turning into a full-time worrywart. He climbs out once the van is parked; he's still in uniform, having just come off shift, and he hears an occasional, carefully muffled ooh or [/i]aah[/i] that makes him involuntarily puff up just a bit. Cops are pretty cool.
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Post by Spy Shot 6/Cameron Otto on Feb 19, 2012 21:19:46 GMT -5
Cameron clambers down from his perch with practiced ease as Hollister parks, not quite as well-coordinated as when in his normal form, but getting better every day (though it doesn't help that this human body keeps changing on him, by minute fractions each day. Growing is terribly strange for one born into a set form, and it fascinates him).
Jogging up to his 'brother', Cameron greets Hollister with a blank face and an even, "Hello Hollister. How was your day?"
After a moment he remembers to smile. It's not that he isn't pleased to see his fellow Autobot-turned-legal-guardian. It's just that even as a robot, he'd never gotten particularly used to regularly using facial expressions. It wasn't much of an issue when his face was smaller than most people's eyes, but in the body of a human child he has realized that his stoicism unnerves some people.
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Feb 24, 2012 12:24:29 GMT -5
A smile is a smile, and Hollister's thrilled to see it. He has to fight the urge to pick Cameron up and put him on his shoulders.
"I had a fairly normal day," he says. Some arrests, one meta, and a lot of nuisance calls. He can go into detail if Cameron likes. "How was school?"
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Post by Spy Shot 6/Cameron Otto on Feb 24, 2012 20:35:13 GMT -5
"Boring," Cameron says, smile fading into an expression of neutrality. "Do I really have to go to school every day?"
He had enjoyed school at first. It was strange and new! New people, new places, new things to learn! But it had quickly lost its luster. The same people and places every day. Same routine. And they all learned so slow! He can learn more in a few hours of browsing Wikipedia than an entire day in school. School is still not entirely without its charms, but... he doesn't want to spend most of his time trapped in a classroom when he could be out doing things.
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Feb 28, 2012 22:17:08 GMT -5
It really is hard sometimes to put Cameron through the monotony of school. All Holi ever knew was that it was a boring place, and that's the only impression of it Hollister gets. But then, human schools aren't meant to teach advanced alien robots.
"There are laws that say yes," he says, popping open the door for Cameron to hop into the van before he heads round the car to his own door. "Are the lessons not enough for you?" Maybe they could look into some sort of online classes Cameron could take after school that would be more engaging. Or advanced schooling? What would keep the little Autobot occupied?
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Post by Spy Shot 6/Cameron Otto on Mar 1, 2012 21:20:09 GMT -5
"The lessens are very slow and simple and repetitive," Cameron says, climbing into the van and buckling himself in, backpack set neatly on the seat beside him.
He frowns slightly. The laws are for human children. He is not a human child, he's just a camera in the shape of one. He is also an Autobot. "I want to help people in need." Big brown eyes focus on Hollister, a little bit longingly. "Like you do."
Why can't a nine-year-old be a police officer, too?
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Mar 5, 2012 19:27:12 GMT -5
Not the eyes. Anything but the eyes. Hollister grimaces and looks uneasily out the window while he buckles himself in and starts the car.
"They don't make the lesson plans with Autobots in mind," he says, dodging Cameron's other topic. "They design them for human children, who aren't as smart or quick to learn as we are. Why don't we look at some college courses for you tonight?" He puts the van in gear and smiles, adding, "Now what would you like for dinner?"
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Post by Spy Shot 6/Cameron Otto on Mar 5, 2012 20:35:22 GMT -5
"Okay," Cameron says, and he might actually be pouting a little. He loves learning new things, of course, and college courses will probably be interesting, but... that doesn't really make up for the fact that he can't spend his days exploring where he will and helping people out where he can!
"Can we have peas and carrots and corn?" he asks. "And blue potatoes?"
Cameron can't prove it, but he's positive that brightly coloured foods taste best.
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Mar 9, 2012 14:10:51 GMT -5
Hollister chuckles. He can't recall Jean ever asking for vegetables like this. To the grocery store, then, because he doesn't keep blue potatoes around the house. And what a dull afternoon it would be to go straight home?
"We should probably see about some meat to have with it," he suggests. These human bodies require much more complicated nourishment than their proper forms and he tries to studiously see that Cameron especially is properly fed. He wonders if that makes him too boring.
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Post by Spy Shot 6/Cameron Otto on Mar 10, 2012 11:45:44 GMT -5
"I guess so," Cameron says. Meat isn't very colorful when it's cooked, but he does admit it can still taste pretty good. "Can we have bacon?"
He watches out the window intently, taking in the variety of people and buildings as they rush past. He plays a game with himself of trying to memorize as many faces as possible, missing his ability to literally record and play-back everything he sees. Still, especially compared to his classmates, Cameron's memory is very, very good.
"I would make a good witness," he remarks to Hollister, mind still on police and helping people.
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Mar 15, 2012 11:08:13 GMT -5
Bacon sounds reasonable enough, but Hollister still makes the sort of face that, in a cartoon, would be accompanied by a comically oversized drop of sweat as he waits for traffic to clear so he can make a left turn.
"I was thinking something a little more substantial," he says. Keeping Cameron's penchant for brightly coloured food in mind, "Maybe orange chicken? It'll go well with the carrots and peas." He doesn't know about the corn and potatoes, but it can't hurt to try. "And what sounds good for dessert? I feel like ice cream, but what do you think?"
Still not touching the topic of Cameron, Public Defender. Maybe if he ignores it hard enough, it'll go away, because he can't think of too many new ways to say no.
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Post by Spy Shot 6/Cameron Otto on Mar 17, 2012 17:05:06 GMT -5
"Orange chicken sounds nice," Cameron says. He already has an orange food in the form of carrots, but as the chicken probably isn't the same shade as carrots, he supposes that will do. "I like rainbow ice cream."
Cameron props up his chin on one hand, still looking out the window. "Did you help anyone in need today?"
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Mar 20, 2012 18:27:21 GMT -5
The chicken is more of a reddish-brownish orange thanks to the breading. And it's definitely flavourful!
"Today was pretty normal," Hollister says, still tiptoeing over the subject. He knows how much Cameron wants to go do Autobot things and be a hero; he probably understands better than most Autobots, really. By that token, he also understands now, given his sudden position within human society, what a risk that poses to both Cameron and to others. "Nuisance calls and traffic stops." He's lying, lying, lying, of course. No day is so dull in the MCU. He's run down and tackled two different criminals today, against orders and good judgement; it was the mugger with steel-hard skin that gave him his sore shoulder, actually.
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Post by Spy Shot 6/Cameron Otto on Mar 20, 2012 20:33:24 GMT -5
"Oh," Cameron says, sounding a bit disappointed. Hollister has a good advantage with lying, in that while Spy Shot came to understand that people do lie, it's still not something he's good at picking up on. Contemplatively he adds, "Perhaps I do not want to be a policeman."
Who else helps people in need? Firefighters, doctors, emergency rescue staff... superheros?
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